Help To Grade A Scott #73

Anyone care to assist in judging the appropriate grade of this stamp? No gum. Hinged. I'm guessing VG/F because of the poor bottom centering and a couple of short perfs.



I've been questioning whether mint or used uncancelled. I've also been looking with a magnifier at the hairline wondering if it could be a very light cancel, but the more I look at it, the more it seems as if its part of the engraved design.

It seems a bit lighter colored than other #73's I've seen, but I see there is a "gray black" variety noted in the catalog.

Any comments?

While I'm far from an expert it appears to me that the dark spots which are visible on the bottom / bottom left perfs would be evidence of a very light cancel.

finding a VF during that time period is extremely difficult. From what I have read.
Finding one that has not been hinged is even more rare.
based on your image an what I can see in the Scott Stamp Values U.S. Specialized by grade, your would be a VG/F.. closer to VG I think.
current Fall 2010 value is $30.00 for unused NG. They don't even grade as "mint" until they get to the 1879 American Bank Note Issue #182.
Everything before that is either used, unused OG or Unused NG.
Hope this helps.

btw from this image, it looks like it may be used.. look at lhs and bottom.

For a Black Jack I'd say it should grade Fine, they are among the worst centered classics so what constitutes F or VF for, say, a Small Banknote is VF-XF for a Black Jack it seems.

Thanks to all for your evaluations. If I make the assumption it is lightly cancelled, it is probably one of the lightest cancels one could acquire. I'm just questioning the value as a used stamp. I know catalog values are much inflated, still my older Scott catalogs suggest that a used value would be in the $50 range, while one of the responses above suggests Unused NG at $30. Is this stamp worth more as a used item or did it decrease in value over the past few years? (Or is it taking into consideration the VG or F values as opposed to Scott listing stamp values only in VF condition?)

Used F-VF is 47.50
Unused NG $85.00
Unused OG $240.00
all for F-VF 75
as of Scott's latest pricing.

the $30.00 value I gave was for a VG. A fine would still be $50.00

It is the latter. The Scott 2010 Stamp Values shows a range of prices for #73 by grade for Used, Unused NG and Unused OG. A very good used is valued at $17.50, a VG unused NG at $30, and a VG unused OG at $85. For the benchmark VF, the used is valued at $70, the unused NG at $140, and the unused OG at $375. The used valuations become greater than the unused NG for stamps graded as XF-Superb and Superb ($850 to $500 and $2,000 to $875, respectively).

Thanks again. I didn't realize there were so many quoted values on this item depending on the grading detail.

Good information!
Thanks to everyone.
KirkS